“There’s a lot to be excited about Detroit,” he told MLive Detroit in a recent phone interview. “Certainly we’re not wearing rose-colored glasses, we’re not forgetting about everything that needs to happen. But there are plenty of stories that we need to shine a light on, and encourage, and nurture, and allow them to flourish to become the next great business icons for Detroit.”

The fourth annual TEDxDetroit, a local spin-off of the annual Technology, Entertainment and Design Conference in California, is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday at Detroit’s Gem Theatre. Nearly 50 presenters, artists and musicians from a variety of backgrounds and experiences are scheduled to take main stage at the event.

Wollborg talked with MLive Detroit about the conference, city and life in general:

Q: It’s been four years now, do you feel TEDxDetroit has had any type of impact on the city?

"We’re a celebration of the people that are doing it. We’re not doing anything ourselves, so if we can shine a light on each of those good stories and those good people – and helping them get a bigger stage for their ideas – I think we’re doing great work … The bad news finds its own way … We think it’s our mission to shine a light on those positive stories."

Q: What do you see holding Detroit back?

“Geography. I think if you look at, if we were to call them burrows as they do in other cities, we have our burrows – a very successful downtown, an awesome city in Corktown, … Midtown, Woodbridge, cultural center – all just kicking butt.

"If you look at the maps of the early 1900s, Detroit was the size of downtown. We kept annexing neighborhood after neighborhood. So, where we may have three or five neighborhood centers of town that are rocking, there are still other areas where the recovery hasn’t hit.

“It’s very hard for those five to fly when you have another 10 that are kind of falling back to earth.”

Q: What can help that geography problem? The people? The government? The businesses?

“Claire Nelson has my absolutely favorite quote about Detroit in the trailer for ‘Lemonade: Detroit’ … she said, ‘the empty buildings are spaces for new ideas’ … Seeing opportunities rather than bitching and moaning about what’s not going well.”

Q: What are your hopes for Detroit in five to 10 years?

"My dream for the city is that Motown is transformed into a city that powers the world. That we take all this great engineering and manufacturing talent and we’re pouring it into companies like Accio Energythat’s creating flightless wind turbines, and Nextek Power Systems, which is creating just remarkable solar cells, and we’re able to capitalize on our intellectual capital … That’s my vision.”

Q: Anything else?

“I think another way that we’re getting those smart folks down here is we’re seeing beautiful little tech centers in Ann Arbor and Detroit, and even the northern suburbs, where all these little start-ups are popping up. And so if we can continue to draw entrepreneurs here, there’s more opportunity when you’ve got critical mass together -- more charged particles to bounce together -- and then that innovation moves on to other sectors. That’s more growth in alternative energy and more growth in manufacturing."